Spatial awareness is being aware of the position of our own body in relation to our environment around us.  This is a fundamental skill to develop before we can then understand how other objects, shapes, other people, letters and words relate to each other and to ourselves.

Spatial awareness is important for both the development of gross motor and fine motor skills.  It is linked to our visual perceptual skills as we often use our eyes to judge the distance between ourselves and objects or others.  

Development of spatial awareness is gradual and can be observed through childhood experiences:

• A baby will learn spatial awareness as they roll, bat at things with their hand, begin to grasp objects, crawl, pull to stand, walk, etc.
  
• A toddler will continue to develop spatial awareness as they feed themselves, release toys into containers, build and knock over towers of blocks, care for a doll, navigate stairs, sing nursery rhymes with actions, etc.
  
• A preschooler will develop spatial awareness as they kick or catch a ball, control scissors and paper in cutting, thread beads,  draw with crayons, drive a toy car on a road map, dress themselves, etc

As children develop spatial awareness, movement and control of their body becomes more precise.  They can "label" their movements with language (eg. under, over, next to) and have a better understanding of distance and direction.

School-age children may demonstrate difficulty with spatial awareness in a number of ways.

• They may bump into other children and appear clumsy.
  
• They may have difficulty with eye-hand coordination needed for sports.
• They may have difficulty with mathematics reproducing patterns, sequences or shapes.
• They may have difficulty with handwriting legibility (letter formation, writing on lines, spacing).

Occupational Therapists can work with children of all ages who are experiencing difficulty with spatial awareness. They may use a variety of activities depending on the child's age, goals and/or disability or diagnosis.

Here are some activities I have been doing with some of the school-age kids {Kindy and Yr 1} I have been seeing, who have been experiencing difficulty with spatial awareness and handwriting... using simple small blocks.

1. Block pattern copying - OT creates simple block pattern and student builds a copy using their blocks.  To make it easier I provide the child with the coloured blocks they need.  To make it more difficult, I ask the student to close their eyes whilst I'm building so they can not see the process.

2. Block pattern copying from picture - OT draws on a whiteboard the block pattern or has a printed pattern sheet.  Student builds block pattern from the picture.  To make this more difficult, I place the model on the desk horizontally rather than vertically as seen in these photos. To make this easier, the students can place the blocks directly on the pattern sheet covering the matching box. 

3. Block pattern drawing - OT builds a block pattern and student draws it by colouring a grid. To make this easier, the paper could be placed on a vertical surface next to the blocks.

Whilst these activities seem simple, for children struggling with spatial awareness...they can be difficult.  You may need to help students to notice what coloured blocks are "next to", "on top", "between" or "below" others. 

Some children will have difficulty when things are presented in a different orientation to where it is reproduced. These children may have difficulty copying from a whiteboard onto paper in front of them.

Do you have a set of blocks in your therapy bag?  

What is your "go to" activity for working on spatial awareness?

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Everyone from babies to grown ups can have fun with puzzles.  Some people find them frustrating, whilst others love the challenge! In a world of fast responses, instant satisfaction and technology to grant it, there is something really nice about slowing down to complete a puzzle.  Kids can develop a range of skills when working on puzzles and they can have fun in the process!

Babies will typically start with large knob wooden inset (or insert) puzzles. Often the picture of the puzzle is printed in the inset section, the knob is large and easy to hold for little hands.  

Toddlers will enjoy slightly harder inset puzzles with more options and bright colourful pictures. They will also start to put two, three and maybe four piece interlocking puzzles together.

Preschoolers will enjoy layered inset puzzles and more complicated interlocking puzzles (approximately 20-50 pieces). They might be more confident with interlocking puzzles that are within a wooden frame which have the picture underneath to match.  Preschoolers also love really large floor puzzles (that are bigger than themselves)!

School age children (and adults) will progressively accomplish very complicated interlocking pieces (50+ pieces). The speed of progression will be different for each child, however, your school age child will develop interest in non-traditional puzzles too.  This may include 3D models, Tangrams and games (such as Rubik's cubes and Q Twist).

There are so many benefits in encouraging your kids with puzzles:

• Fine motor skills - Fingers are busy picking up and putting down puzzle pieces including a small pincer grasp to pick up small pegs.  Hands are busy manipulating pieces around in different directions and numerous pieces may be held simultaneously.  There is also eye-hand coordination in placing the pieces to fit.
• Cognitive skills - Children need to consider their overall goal of completing a puzzle and maybe set themselves smaller goals to achieve them.  Puzzles can help teach colours, shapes, numbers, picture matching as well as skills in problem solving and planning.
• Social/Emotional Skills - Puzzles help children to develop patience and perseverance.  It can help develop self esteem and confidence in achieving something that may have been difficult initially.  Older children will particularly enjoy working together to complete a difficult puzzle.  
• Visual Perceptual/Motor Skills - Puzzles require a range of visual perceptual skills such as discrimination (the ability to distinguish between similar pieces and scan for others), figure ground (find the correct piece in a confusing environment of lots of other pieces), spatial relations (turning pieces so that they can be seen together in the correct orientation), position in space (identifying pieces even when they are upside down or sideways to the piece that needs to be matched), visual closure (being able to see the small parts of a puzzle making up a whole bigger picture), visual memory (remembering the visual information that needs to fit with another piece).

I'm working on a 1000 piece puzzle whilst Miss 8 works on her first 500 piece puzzle.  Whilst there have already been cries of frustration followed by moments of triumph (for both of us), I think she might finish first!  Bring on the summer holidays!

Do your kids like puzzles? Do you?

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For those of you who have been following Your Kids OT, you will know that I recently went to New York City.  So indulge me a minute whilst I show you some photos from the trip.

These photos are from Ellis Island which is located on the same ferry route as the Statue of Liberty.  Ellis Island was America's largest and most active immigration station.  It is now a museum which documents the stories of some of those who passed through its halls with their hopes and dreams of a better life.  It was an interesting and moving experience to see what was involved in the "processing" of hopeful immigrants.

"Visual motor perception is the ability to copy geometric shapes, letter or drawing in a proper spatial manner... Form-copy tests are excellent indicators of a child's future school performance.  If I had to choose only one test to give a child to determine his school readiness, it would undoubtedly be the form-copy test". K. A. Lane (2005) Developing Ocular Motor and Visual Perceptual Skills: An Activity Workbook .  

As OTs, we place emphasis on copying shapes when assessing visual perception. Copying the "vertical diamond" in the Beery VMI is reported to have an age norm of 8yrs 1mth. The developmental trends in drawing a vertical diamond include drawing vertical lines (3yrs), reflections of vertical and straight lines (4yrs), closed form with angles (5yrs), squared diamond (5yrs 8mths), definitely elongated (6yrs 10mths) and then the acceptable angularity (8yrs 1mth).

When teaching a child to draw a diamond,  I focus on their ability to draw diagonal lines and their ability to cross the midline (taking into consideration the child's age and development).  A multi-sensory approach is key so that the child "feels" the action and can understand how to motor-plan.  This may include drawing in rice and shaving cream, creating with playdough or using craft sticks to create patterns and shapes. 

Have you been to Ellis Island? Can your child draw a diamond? 
  

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As we begin term 4 of the Australian School term, some of you may be thinking about school readiness for 2015. Is my child ready for school?  Is school ready for my child?

Whilst there are certain expectations for children beginning school, there is also a wide-range-of-normal! Children learn at their own pace and may begin school with various "school readiness" skills.  School readiness may include social skills, language skills, emotional skills, concentration skills, visual-motor skills, pre-writing skills, self-care skills, fine and gross motor skills.   

If your child has difficulty with one or more of these areas of skill development, it does not mean that they are not ready for school.  It may mean that they need some help ... including Occupational Therapy.

I suggest looking at the overall picture of your child's development and speaking with your child's educator (if they attend preschool or child care).  

The following school readiness checklist is based on those "red flags" where referral to Occupational Therapy may assist your child in these months leading up to starting school. The questions here are based on various standardised assessments OTs use including The Miller Function & Participation Scales, The Peabody Developmental Motor Scales and the Beery VMI (Visual-Motor Integration). The checklist is not exhaustive and was developed to provide a snapshot of where you child is currently performing and what they may need help with completing.

You can find a FREE printable copy of this checklist in the Your Kids OT shop.  You are welcome to distribute it to parents and educational settings.  OTs, please do not copy the content for professional use (ie. don't use the content and add your own logo).

If you complete this checklist and have concerns about your child's development, contact an Occupational Therapist for a comprehensive assessment.  If you live or your child attends an educational setting in the Ryde LGA (Local Government Area), please contact me at cindy@yourkidsot.com or via the contacts pagehere for further information about direct therapy services. 

Do you have a child starting school in 2015?

Felties Compendium Travel Set contains over 300 pre-cut shapes of felt in an assortment of colours.  Googly eyes are included too! The travel set has a neat sturdy case that folds up to store these shapes, perfect as the name suggests for taking with you.  A great size to pop into a handbag or therapy bag.

Kids will love making pictures with these felt pieces!  They may copy a small booklet of designs or make up their own. The case is long enough for 2 children to play with this together. There are certainly enough shapes to be shared.  Put away the scissors as you will not need to cut out any extra shapes!

This is a great therapy tool to take along to therapy sessions.  The Felties Compendium Travel Set  allows you to work on colour, shapes and visual-motor skills.  Can your child copy a pattern?  Can they identify a sequence to complete the picture?  Can they scan the vast number of shapes to find the ones needed?  Can they colour match? Can they use directional language (eg. next to, in front, behind, on top, below, etc)?

The Felties Compendium Travel Set may also be used for story telling and pretend play.  A scene may be built with characters introduced and objects made as a story unfolds.

Whilst Mr 4 and Miss 7 enjoy playing with this at home, I have added it to my therapy bag.  It is compact and there is such a range of skills that can be worked on using these shapes!

The Felties Compendium Travel Set is available from Finlee and Me in a choice of 2 colours.

Have your kids played with felt shapes before?

Note: I received no remuneration for this post.  I was gifted the Felties Compendium Travel Set by Finlee and Me. All comments, opinions and photographs are my own.

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Just in case you haven't been playing along.  Here is how it will work for the final 2 challenges.

Here is how it will work:
For the next 2 Fridays, I will select a "Lego Challenge".  Encourage your children to build this during the week and take a photograph.  Send in the photograph with a brief description {eg. George, age 6, hovercraft or if you prefer Mr 6, hovercraft} by Thursday 5pm (Sydney time).  I will collate the photographs so your child can see their own creation and have a look at what others have made too.

Rules: 

• Open to children of all ages.  {This is not a school assignment so it is not about parental help for the best looking creation but parents can help if they want to! Parents you can build your own if you want to but please label as such. If no-one submits a photograph you might just get lots of my creations. LOL}
  
• Children can submit more than one photograph per challenge if they want to.
• Children may use any "brick-like-Lego" to complete the challenges including Duplo, Megabloks, etc.
• Photographs submitted will become the property of Your Kids OT and may be published on the website, FB and Pinterest.  Thanks!
• This is non-competitive challenge and is designed for encouraging imagination and creativity! Sorry no prizes and no winner.
• Email your  photo/s to cindy@yourkidsot.com
• Tell your friends about the challenge!
• Have fun!!!

Each year, schools and public libraries across Australia spend a week celebrating books and Australian authors and illustrators. Classroom teachers, teacher librarians and public librarians develop activities, offer competitions and tell stories relating to a theme to highlight the importance of reading.  We have a book week parade at our school today... here is my contribution to book week!

I hope this challenge doesn't stump too many but encourages great imagination!  Follow me on Facebook during the week for some inspiration!

Can't wait to see this week's creations!  Thanks for joining the Lego Challenge!

What's your child's favourite book?

Buying a few base boards was a great way to encourage my kids with the imagination part of playing with Lego.   Here is another way .... the YKOT Lego Challenge!!  

Before I go into the details, I have to let you know that I was inspired to do this after reading about LEGO quest (found on Pinterest).  In 2010, a series of quests were given where readers would build and photograph their achievements.  I wish we could have been a part of this quest but my kids would have been too young.

So here it is....

Here is how it will work:
Each Friday for the next 4 weeks, I will select a "Lego Challenge".  Encourage your children to build this during the week and take a photograph.  Send in the photograph with a brief description {eg. George, age 6, hovercraft or if you prefer Mr 6, hovercraft} by Thursday 5pm (Sydney time).  I will collate the photographs so your child can see their own creation and have a look at what others have made too.

Rules: 

• Open to children of all ages.  {This is not a school assignment so it is not about parental help for the best looking creation but parents can help if they want to! Parents you can build your own if you want to but please label as such. If no-one submits a photograph you might just get lots of my creations. LOL}
  
• Children can submit more than one photograph per challenge if they want to.
• Children may use any "brick-like-Lego" to complete the challenges including Duplo, Megabloks, etc.
• Photographs submitted will become the property of Your Kids OT and may be published on the website, FB and Pinterest.  Thanks!
• This is non-competitive challenge and is designed for encouraging imagination and creativity! Sorry no prizes and no winner.
• Email your  photo/s to cindy@yourkidsot.com
• Tell your friends about the challenge!
• Have fun!!!

This week's challenge is... build with 50 bricks.  
This can be any bricks that you select.

I'm so excited to see what your kids will create!  

Are you {and your kids} up for the challenge? The Lego challenge?

For maze lovers and those working on visual perceptual skills, the iMazing! app has 14 levels to challenge you. Mazes help children to develop eye hand coordination skills, visual motor integration, problem solving and concentration skills.  

The visual layout of this app is very simple - light green path and dark greed background.  A green line is drawn as you draw your path through the maze.  If you make an error and go back through the maze then the path turns red.

The app is suitable for kids 4 years and older, with some adults finding the higher levels challenging. The app allows you to select the level that you want to complete so you are not required to complete all the levels sequentially.  You can also repeat a level with several different mazes and stop during any level.  The app has no recording function to remember which mazes have been completed.

The app is plain and does not have any characterisation or motivation for finishing the app.  Some children will find the nature of the app with increasing levels of difficulty motivation enough, where other children may find this "boring" especially if they have visual perceptual difficulties. 

A foundation to writing is being able to control a pencil (or writing tool) with a relaxed hand to form the lines and curves needed to make recognisable letters, numbers or symbols.

We often jump in too early trying to teach kids to recognise and reproduce letters and numbers, when they haven't had a chance to master controlling the pencil for lines, curves and shapes.  Writing also requires the integration of visual skills with motor skills to piece together how lines, curves and shapes stick together to form a letter or number.

Mastering lines, curves and shapes will bring smooth pencil control and fluency is so important with all writing (print and cursive) and drawing.

Asking children to draw over "printables" is beneficial for eye-hand coordination and having a visual guide to drawing. {Refer to this post for free pre-writing printables.}  However, it is also important that children can draw lines, curves and shapes without visual prompts {which is why I like worksheets that fade the visual prompts like these ones}.  It is important for children to "feel" where their arm, hand and fingers are during this movement (kinesthetic learning) as well as plan how to move their arm, hand and fingers to reproduce the pattern.

The end of the school holidays and back to preschool for Mr 4.  Miss 7 and I are having a "mummy and daughter" day as she still has another week off.  

What do you think of when I say "Fluency and pencil control"?  

I have created a "Fluency Patterns Sheet" which has a set of 14 fluency patterns.  Here are some ways you can use this sheet to help your child with pencil control and fluency.  Print, cut out and laminate each fluency pattern.

• Tracing over pre-writing patterns with a finger, paintbrush or  dry-erase marker.
• Provide hand over hand (that is guide your child's hand by holding it) to draw the fluency patterns.
• Draw a set of pictures on a white board and randomly pick out a fluency pattern to draw a path from one picture to another (see photograph collage below).
• Use fluency pattern cards as a time-filler in a Kindergarten classroom for independent drawing on paper.  See if your children can reproduce the fluency pattern by calling out the name.
• Use fluency patterns cards in a pre-school environment for independent copying on paper.
• Make rainbow fluency patterns using different colours for the same pattern.
• Use grid paper/books to draw straight line fluency patterns (such as zig zags or castle)

You can purchase these fluency patterns from theYour Kids OT shop or Teachers Pay Teachers (ps. it costs less than a cup of coffee).  Try them today.  

Visual Perception is the process of extracting and organising information, giving meaning to what we see.  It is required to perform everyday (motor) tasks, such as reading, copying information from a board or understanding symbols.  

Here are some great freebies to encourage your child's development of their visual motor skills.  Click on the title or the photo for links directly to the relevant website.

Have you been bookmarking the Freebie Friday series?  Here are the links to previous Freebie Fridays in case you missed them...

• Freebie Friday #1: Pre-writing Skills
• Freebie Friday #2: Cutting
• Freebie Friday #3: Drawing

It is the last day of school term for us today and I am giving myself a blog-break over our school holidays to spend some time with Miss 7 and Mr 4.  I will be posting links to previous posts during this time so you will have some suggestions to do over the holidays.  So please stay around and I would appreciate it if you don't unsubscribe or unlike me during this time!  

What are you planning to do these school holidays?  We are doing birthday celebrations #2 for Mr just -turned-4 years with his just-turned-4 years cousin this weekend.  I've just finished her cake ... I love playing around with fondant.  It is my therapy!  

Happy Holidays!!